The 2017 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships are just two weeks away, and Bloody Elbow will be covering all of the action from St. Louis, Missouri. In the meantime, let’s watch some little kids go to battle on the wrestling mat in Pennsylvania.
Four-year-old Isaiah Lineberry faced off against Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder, in one of the most horrific pieces of tournament matchmaking I’ve ever seen an unidentified five-year-old girl, in what was Lineberry’s first wrestling tournament. Isaiah and the girl shook hands, the match began, and Lineberry immediately channeled his inner Kalib Starnes and went for a jog. You can watch the video at the top of the page.
“I asked him afterwards, ‘So why did you run?'” Isaiah’s mother, Alexis Salyers, told ABC News. “And he said, ‘I don’t know, Mommy, but it was silly.'”
After the exhilarating and hilarious chase was over, the girl (who shrugged whilst chasing her opponent) was able to pin Isaiah down and come away with the victory.
Wrestling runs in Isaiah’s family, as his dad wrestled in high school, while his stepfather is part of the Ohio State University coaching staff.
“He knows what to do,” Salyers said. “He just let loose and the entire crowd started busting out laughing.”
“He’s wrestled in several tournaments since then and has been in the top four placements in them,” she said. “It was just that one fluke match.”
There is no word on whether or not a rematch is being worked on, or if Isaiah is angling for big lunch money fights. Whatever the case, if wrestling doesn’t work out for him, Isaiah can always give it a go as a track sprinter.
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